Lampredotto in Zimino Fiorentino con Bietola

Ingredients

• For the initial boil
• 800 g lampredotto (bovine abomasum), rinsed
• 2 celery stalks
• 2 carrots
• 1 onion
• 1 tsp fine salt
• For the zimino
• 60 ml extra-virgin olive oil
• 1 onion, finely chopped
• 2 celery stalks, finely chopped
• 2 carrots, finely chopped
• 150 ml dry white wine
• 400 g tomato passata
• 300 g Swiss chard leaves, stems removed, leaves roughly torn
• 200 ml reserved lampredotto boiling liquid, strained
• To serve
• 4 semelle rolls, hard, white, hollow bread rolls
• 4 tbsp salsa verde
• 1 tsp olio piccante (chilli oil), to taste

Method

1. 1
   Place the lampredotto in a large pot with the celery, carrot, onion, and salt. Cover generously with cold water. Bring to the boil, reduce to a steady simmer, and cook uncovered for 2 hours 30 minutes. The lampredotto is done when a skewer or the tip of a knife meets no resistance anywhere in the piece.
2. 2
   Lift the lampredotto from the pot. Strain the boiling liquid and reserve it — this is the stock base for the zimino and for finishing the rolls. Once the lampredotto is cool enough to handle, cut it into rough strips or pieces of approximately 3–4 cm.
3. 3
   Warm the olive oil in a wide, heavy pan over a medium flame. Add the chopped onion, celery, and carrot (the soffritto) and cook, stirring, until the vegetables are soft and translucent but without colour — the soffritto is ready when it yields easily under the spoon and smells sweet rather than raw.
4. 4
   Raise the heat. Pour in the white wine and let it reduce by half — the sharp alcohol scent should give way to a quieter, rounder fragrance. Add the tomato passata and 200 ml of the reserved boiling liquid. Stir to combine and bring to a gentle simmer. Cook the zimino base for 20 minutes, adjusting with more reserved stock if it tightens. This is the step on which the dish lives or dies: the zimino must carry enough depth from the reserved stock to absorb and transform the lampredotto strips — a zimino made without the boiling liquid cannot achieve this.
5. 5
   Add the torn Swiss chard leaves to the simmering zimino. Cook for 15 minutes only — the chard should be completely wilted and tender but still hold its form; it must not dissolve into the sauce.
6. 6
   Add the lampredotto strips to the zimino. Stir gently to coat every piece in the sauce. Simmer together for 15 minutes. The dish is ready when the lampredotto and zimino smell and taste as one — unctuous, tomato-dark, and deeply savoured, with no raw edge remaining.
7. 7
   Briefly dip each semelle roll in the warm reserved boiling liquid (bagnato) — the crumb should be moist throughout but the roll should not collapse. Fill generously with lampredotto and zimino. Finish with salsa verde and, if desired, a thread of olio piccante.